Fluid drop ejectors have been developed for ejecting droplets of a flowable material. An example of a fluid drop ejector includes a flextensional transducer. As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a conventional flextensional transducer 90 includes a body or substrate 92, a flexible membrane 94 having an orifice 96 defined therein, and an actuator 98. The substrate defines a reservoir for holding a supply of flowable material and the flexible membrane has a circumferential edge supported by the substrate. The actuator includes a piezoelectric material which deforms when an electrical voltage is applied. As such, when the piezoelectric material deforms, the flexible membrane deflects causing a quantity of flowable material to be ejected from the reservoir through the orifice.
One application of a flextensional transducer is in an inkjet printing system. As such, the inkjet printing system includes a printhead having a plurality of flextensional transducers that eject droplets of ink through orifices or nozzles to form an image on a print medium. Fluid or ink is delivered to each of the flextensional transducers through fluid channels formed in a substrate of the flextensional transducers. Existing methods for forming fluid channels in the substrate, however, are relatively slow and expensive, are difficult to control, and/or expose materials which are reactive with ink.
Accordingly, there is a desire for effectively forming a substrate for a flextensional transducer.